Fresh egg albumen



United States Patent 2,89 9,312- mirror) or TREATNGEGG'ALBUMEN John H. Silliker,t Park Forest, and Floyd Ii. Kaunman; Palos Park, 111., and John L.- hlson,-South- Braintree'; Mass.,-,assignor'sto' Swift 8: Company, Chicago, 111;, a corporation of" Illinois" No Drawing. Application July 10, 1956 sfifl No: 596,837

The present invention relates in generalto a method of improving? the whipping properties of egg albumen; More particularly; this invention relates to a; method- Wlfereby an ir'nprovetl egg albumenmay lac-produced that maville used in" cakes; meringues and iciiigs' and? to nieproductiresulting therefrom. I

Uniformly high quality of eg alh'umen is" difficult to maintain with the result" that nie 'whippingi roperties are sometimes less than adequate. Attempts-havebeenm'adi to improve whipping properties By adjusting thepI-I of the} egg" material and then dryin'giby reducing the mois?" ture content of the dried material to-less than and; by simply admixing certain surface active agents" with the egg whites. The latter course of 'actibn-is orie of the simplest but has not been adopted generally in the trade becauseofthe absenceofathoroughly efiectiveand non.-

toxic additive I I a t It is. therefore an! object of thisinvention to provide. a. method of improving. the performance. of. egg albumen by. the simple expedient. of addingthereto.smalliamounts. of=a non-toxiochemical substance.

is a further object of this invention to provide a method for the preparation of egg albumen of improved fiin'ctional properties a's evidenced by short-whipping time, lowfoam gravities,.- increasedl cake heights (or volumes) and improved cake textures.

A further object is to provide an improved method. for whippingand using eggv white, particularly in connection with preparation of products such as angelifdddfcalie.

Further: objects and advantages of this invention, not specifically set out, will lieeiorne apparent durin the. course ofth followihg detailed description.

This invention is the result. of the discovery that the functional properties of egg alb ur'nen may be substantially improvedbythe addition-theretoofsmallamounts of certain materials which are themselves constituents of many natural-food-products-.-- These additives are the alkali rnetall salts-of capric; acidi Particularly; effective are sodium andpotassiumc-apr-atee The other alkali metal salts, incl'udingt lithium; rubidiuml and cesium caprates are also effective, but for-self-evid'ent economic reasons are not recommended. The salts are added to eggiwhites in an amountbetween. about; 0.18. and 0.71 percent by Weight based upon thev solids content of the egg whites. The mixture is whipped accordi'ngto conventional practicei While the objects sought are:realize'dto-great'er or lesser extent under varying conditions ofi acidity; dun ing' the whipping-zope'rationg. greatest improvementis ob; served only when: the pH: is carefully: controlled.- Thatis, if the caprate is added at any pH which would ordina'r'ily prevail in fresh egg white, some improvement in. whipping speed; foam gravity; caketexture and cake size will probably be" noted. However; optimum results are achieved only where the' pH of the albumen during: the? whipping stage is maintained within" the range 6-735;

MO'I'e particularly; it" has been fbllflli' that" SllIfa'Ce. 31c tivity per se a chemical compound is" not necessarily indicative: of; an. abilit-y'to imprdvee-the functional propber of the functional propertiesof. egg". white while. ad-. versely affecting others, especially the specific gravity of'fthe whipped foam.

The alkali metalcaprates, particularly sodiumandlpm tassi'um caprate, decrease the. egg white foam. specific. gravity as well as increasing cake volume, thereby im-- proving cake appearance and texture.

There area variety, of methods of incorporatingthe capri'c' acid salts in the egg white. Ihsall events, painsshould be' taken to assure an even dist'ril nutionv throughout the entirety of the egg material. The. egg white may befir'st. desugare'd and dried in the conventional-. fashion... Alternately, the albumen used may be a liquid. Pref erably, the caprate, a dry condition,. is next. added toiv a small amount of the egg albumen and this mixture in turnv admixed with a large batch of egg material. Of course, the caprate may also be directly admixedwith: the entire albumen batch. Suitable apparatus maybe used to secure proper dispersion of the caprate throughr out the larger body of egg material such as a colloid mill or other stirring or mixing device. After dispersion: is complete, the albumen may be whipped (after reconsti--- tution if the product is dried).

The: preferred amount. of capric acid: salt additivefalls between 0:18 and- 0.72 percent by weight calculated on the: basis of; the egg white solids.

As is indicated above one approach'is toaddthe caprie: acid saltto-dried eggimater-ialv Itisalsopossible to add theagents. of: this invention to. the egg =white-priorr to drye ing, or the! caprates; may bemixed with eggmateriah to: form a liquid emulsion, which may itself be used immediately or which may be frozen and maintained in this condition below the minimum temperatures of decomposition until needed.

As was indicated at the outset; the" pH ofthe admix ture which prevails at thetime the whipping operation takeslplace isi of consiiierablersighificance in determining the extent to which the functional properties of the egg albumen will bemodified'. The natural pH offresh' or" reconstituted dried egg White will e'nahlei satisfactory" ro suits, but netneeessarily the finest. Preferably; a pFPof 6.0to1 715 should prevail during the whipping stage: A pH of- 6i5 isc0nsideied optimum sinee at'thi'sfpoiii't',1irovidedproper amounts of caprate are employed;-thewhipping time willbe shortest and the cake height greatest. Materials for adjusting the pH are cream of tartar, citric acid, monoealcium phosphate sodium: bicarbonate and the like. g

The type cake to which reference has been made elsewhere is cake of the angle: fbod vai iety. Angel food cake is improved with respect to its grain texture, chewability, and volume as vvell as in its eneral enter appearance when egg material tieate'd in aceordan'ee with tlie teaching-softhis inven'tion is llsedf asan ing're'dient" the cake batter.- other ba't'ter' ingredients in' angel food cakes are flour; sugar, acidifying agents suclr' as cream? Of tartar: 01" the" like} and! flavoring materials This" o'fi re'oipe, being devoitfi of shortening, iS particularly able for: use withthe treated egg: whites. However; capratetreated egg White'smay also be empleyed where it: is-pbssible-to take: advantage ei thei-r volume rodue= ing, emulsifying. and colloidal properties;- as inimerin'gue's and icings;.

Examples are set' forth; below'showing thm preparation? of the eggz materialiof thisf'inve'ntions and! showing it1188 in a typical: angel?- food cake formula and; the; results: obi

. 1 served. It should be borne in mind that the examples are 1 1 3 solely for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed as imposing limitations on the scope of the invention other than as are set out in the appended claims.

EXAMPLE I About 0.07 gram of sodium caprate were admixed in crystalline form with 39 grams fluff-dried egg white and thoroughly comingled in a colloid mill. Next, 3.5 grams cream of tartar were added to the mixture together with 300 grams of-Water. The pH at this point was 7.5. Whipping was begun and after a period of 2 /2 minutes a whip filling the bowl and capable of forming stifi peaks was obtained. The foam specific gravity was found to be .110.

By way of contrast, when identical procedures were followed but no caprate added, a period of 2% minutes was required to form an acceptable foam. The foam gravity was greater, .135.

Much more striking was the comparison of the eifect on the cakes made from batter incorporating the different types of egg whites, caprate treated and untreated. Both were tested in the following angel food cake formula:

' Grams Egg whites (dried) 39 Water 300 Granulated sugar 300 Cake flour 70 Salt 1 Vanilla 2 The caprate treated egg whites produced a cake of good grain, texture and general appearance. Where the caprate was omitted the cake obtained had an inferior texture. The table below shows how results obtained in the above two tests compared with others conducted under similar conditions excepting pH, which was varied between 7.5 and 5.0. In each additional test 007 gram sodium caprate per 39 grams albumen was used.

pH for caprate activity is about 6.5.

EXAMPLE 11 Further tests were conducted to determine the effect of varying the amount of sodium caprate which was added to the fluff-dried egg white. In each of these tests using sodium caprate, the additive was admixed with 39 grams dried egg albumen. To this mixture was added 300 grams water and the pH adjusted to the optimum as determined by the prior tests (pH 6.5). Cream of tartar served as the acidifying agent. The whipping time for the controls (without sodium caprate) was 3% min utes and where the additive was used, a 2% minutes. The cake formula used was the same as in Example I.

Table B below clearly shows that the preferred amount of sodium caprate additive falls between 0.18 and 0.72 percent by weight calculated on the basis of egg white solids and the consistent superiority of caprate treated egg white.

Table B Sodium Caprate Added Cake Foam, Height, p. Gr.

mm Percent Grams EXAMPLE III Further tests were conducted to accurately define the effect of a caprate on the whipping properties of egg white and the improvement to be expected in the angel food cake formula (Example I). In each of the tests reported immediately below using sodium caprate, about 0.7 gram of the additive was mixed with 39 grams dried egg albumen (.18% sodium caprate based on the dried egg solids weight). To this mixture was added 300 grams water and the pH adjusted to the optimum as determined by the prior tests (pH 6.5). Cream of tartar served as the acidifying agent. The whipping time for the controls (without sodium caprate) was 3 /2 minutes and where the additive was used, 2 /2 minutes. A total of ten cakes were then prepared to show the effectiveness of five batches of untreated egg white and five containing the caprate.

The table below clearly shows the consistent superiority of caprate treated egg white.

Additional tests were conducted in fashion similar to those described above using fluff dried egg white containing .18% potassium caprate. A pH of 6.5 was used. Once again, the superiority of caprate treated egg white was evident.

Table D Cake Volume Foam, Sp. Gr.

Control Additive Control Additive EXAMPLE IV Still further tests were conducted to determine whether the caprates are equally eifective where the egg albumen used is fresh or of the defrosted frozen variety. The following angel food cake formula was used:

Grams Egg whites 320 Water 20 Granulated sugar 300 Cake flour 70 Salt 1 Vanilla 2 The agent was in each case mixed with the egg white and the water added. Next the other ingredients were As is evident from the foregoing, about 0.18 to about admixed. Cream of tartar served asthe acidifying agent 0.72% caprate based on the egg solids weight is an and the optimum pH, 6.5 was used in each test. Results optimum for all varieties of egg albumen, whether fresh,

wereasfollows: frozen and defrosted or dried. On either side of the Table E 5 range given, the eifect of the caprate is encountered but FRESH EGG ALBUMEN to a decreasingly manifest extent. Thus it is to be emphasized that 0.18 to 0.72% does not represent an absolute Sodium caprate added, percent (egg white solids Cake Foam, statement of limits of operability wtba Height, 9- As was stated above, the egg whites used may be either 10 liquid or dried. They may also contain any of the other Nmm 1 14 165 known modifying agents such as sugars, sodium chloride,

114 I acids such as tartaric acid and acetic acid, hexahydrlc 8%? alcohols such as mannitol and sorbitol or any of the 5 115 1 various hydrophilic colloids as, for example, the vegetable 1 12 n. 109 .135 gums Obviously many modifications and variations of the Table F invention as hereinbefore set forth may be made without FRESH EGG ALBUMEN departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indi- Potassium caprate added, percent (egg white Cake Foam, cated in the pp claimssolids wt. basis) Height, Sp. Gr. W l i 1. The method of improving the whipping properties of egg albumen which comprises adding to the egg albumem 0 09 1 I15 at least about 0.09 and less than 1.12% of an alkali metal 8 gig salt of capric acid based on the weight of the egg albumin 0172:: 116 I140 solids to improve substantially said whipping properties 445 of the egg albumen and adjusting the pH of the resulting mixture to between about 6.0 and 7.5.

Table G 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the amount of alkali metal salt of capric acid is between about 0.18 and FROZEN DEFROSTED EGG ALBUMEN 0.72 percent based on the weight of the egg albumen solids.

Potassium caprate added, percent H i ga t, 3 322 1 2; The method of pp egg albumin which prises adding to the albumin between about 0.18 and 0.72% of an alkali metal salt of capric acid based on 8? the weight of the egg albumin solids, whipping the eggs 3 1"" 118 1 and maintaining the pH of the albumin between about 6 and 7.5 during said whipping. 1112:: 1 6 11 4. A product prepared in accordance with the method of claim 1.

Table H References Cited in the file of this patent FROZEN DEFROSTED EGG ALBUMEN UNITED STATES PATENTS Cake Specific 2,183,516 Mink Dec. 12, 1939 Sodium caprate added, percent Height, Gravity FOREIGN PATENTS NM 113 488,862 Great Britain July 6, 1938 2'93" 11? 122 5 OTHER REFERENCES 3 3%; 0 Surface Active Agents, 1949, by A. M. Schwartz et aL, 112 107 .136 published by Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York,

page 25. 

1. THE METHOD OF IMPROVING THE WHIPPING PROPERTIES OF EGG ALBUMEN WHICH COMPRISES ADDING TO THE EGG ALBUMEM AT LEAST ABOUT 0.09 AND LESS THAN 1.12% OF AN ALKALI METAL SALT TO IMPROVE SUBSTANTIALLY SAID WHIPPING PROPERTIES SOLIDS OF CAPRIC ACID BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE EGG ALBUMIN OF THE EGG ALBUMEM AND ADJUSTING THE PH OF THE RESULTING MIXTURE TO BETWEEN ABOUT 6.0 AND 7.5. 